Free Weekly Instant Tournament - May 30 - Board 2

Board 2
Our side vulnerable

♠ 9 3  ♥ A Q 9 8  ♦ A 10  ♣ A K 10 9 4

RHO passes.

2-4-2-5 is an awkward pattern with 15 or 16 HCP. Take away the heart queen, and I would open with one notrump, since if I open with one club, I would have no good rebid after a one-spade response. But with 17 HCP, I have enough to reverse, so there is no reason to treat this hand as balanced. And evaluating this hand as 17 HCP doesn't even do it justice. Prime values. Good spots. One notrump is not only a misbid but an underbid as well.

I open with one club and partner responds one heart. I bid four hearts and everyone passes. RHO leads the four of diamonds.

	NORTH Phillip ♠ 9 3 ♥ A Q 9 8 ♦ A 10 ♣ A K 10 9 4
	SOUTH Robot ♠ Q 8 6 4 ♥ J 10 7 2 ♦ Q 8 2 ♣ 6 3

West	North	East	South
Robot	Phillip	Robot	Robot
Pass	1 ♣	Pass	1 ♥
Pass	4 ♥	(All pass)

This is a rather poor contract. Unless West has led from the diamond king, I have three fast losers and no easy way to get to my hand to take the heart finesse. In addition to managing a successful heart finesse, I need to establish the clubs. And I need to avoid a four-one heart break, since the defense can tap dummy to promote a heart trick if West has king fourth. 

Perhaps it's not so surprising this is a bad contract. Partner doesn't have much. Some would pass one club, though I agree with partner's decision to respond.

I play low from dummy. East takes the king. It's good technique to conceal the deuce. If the four is fourth best, playing the deuce lets East know that his partner doesn't have five. So I play the diamond eight.

East shifts to the deuce of spades. It might be right to play the queen just in case East is being tricky. But I doubt my robot opponent is leading low from ace-king. And if trumps break badly, retaining a spade stopper might prove useful. So I play low.

West wins with the ten and cashes the ace. East follows with the seven. West continues with the nine of diamonds to dummy's ace. East plays the jack. Here is the position, with the lead in dummy:

	NORTH Phillip ♠ -- ♥ A Q 9 8 ♦ -- ♣ A K 10 9 4
	SOUTH Robot ♠ Q 8 ♥ J 10 7 2 ♦ Q ♣ 6 3

West surely would have tapped dummy if he had king fourth of hearts. So if I can reach my hand and the heart king is onside, I'll make this. I'll ruff a club high and hope West follows. If clubs are three-three, I can lead a heart honor for a finesse. If West has four clubs, I can lead a low heart to the eight, ruff another club, and repeat the finesse. If East has four clubs, I'm down. Or maybe not. If West doesn't overruff, I can try to drop a stiff king of hearts offside.

I play ace and king of clubs and ruff a club with the seven. They're three-three. I lead the jack of hearts and West covers. Making four. Nice one-heart bid, partner.

	NORTH Phillip ♠ 9 3 ♥ A Q 9 8 ♦ A 10 ♣ A K 10 9 4
WEST Robot ♠ A 10 5 ♥ K 5 ♦ 9 6 5 4 3 ♣ Q 8 2		EAST Robot ♠ K J 7 2 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ K J 7 ♣ J 7 5
	SOUTH Robot ♠ Q 8 6 4 ♥ J 10 7 2 ♦ Q 8 2 ♣ 6 3

Plus 620 is worth 86%, since not everyone got to game. Some opened with one notrump and played it there. As I said before, one notrump is an underbid. It's true we got to a poor game and got lucky. But partner had a marginal response. If his hand were a tad better, we would be getting to a good game while those who opened with one notrump would still be playing it there.

Others missed game by raising one heart to three. That's a clear underbid. 19 support points. Or, if you prefer, four and half honor tricks. Or five losers. I can't think of a method that values this hand as less than a raise to game.

If you don't like counting points, honor tricks, or losers, you can always apply an extended version of Culbertson's Rule. The original Culbertson's Rule is for slam bidding: 

If partner's perfect minimum makes slam cold with normal breaks, then you are worth an invitation. 

The idea is that, if partner has a maximum and accepts, perhaps his maximum will subsume this perfect minimum. And, even if partner has the wrong cards, slam may still be a favorite, since it was cold opposite the hand you envisioned.

While the rule was meant for slam bidding, it's a reasonable rule for game bidding at matchpoints as well (though it's too conservative for vulnerable games at IMPs). The problem is that the rule tells you when you have invitation, not when you have a game or slam drive. So I recommend this extension:

If partner's perfect minimum makes you cold for an overtrick on normal breaks, you should drive to game (or slam). 

Partner's perfect minimum here would be:

♠ x x x  ♥ K x x x  ♦ x x x  ♣ Q J x.

Opposite that hand, you are cold for five against normal breaks. So you are worth a four-heart bid.